"Mild und leise wie er lachelt"

I'm scared of Wagner. Who wouldn't be when you hear stories worthy of Halloween about fated trips to a Der Ring das Nibelung lasting 24 hours over 4 days due to some particularly geriatric conducting. Even apparent musical geniuses such as Elina Garanca have had a painful Wagner experience; Tannhauser "bored [her] to tears". Albeit she was 7 at the time...Anyway, needless to say, I've avoided Mr. Wagner like the plague; until now...

In retrospect, having taken the Wagnerian plunge, so to speak, I'm not entirely sure what I was so scared about. Sure, I've not actually watched an entire 5 hour opera...but it's not really what I was expecting - my main Wagner knowledge coming from piano pieces that are just like the musical manifestation of Nazism. In fact, it's quite the opposite - as the title suggests; 'soft and gentle'.

This dreamy lament, 'Mild und leise', comes at the very end of Tristan und Isolde, when surprise surprise, there's a dead body to weep over. In a situation mirroring that of the famous Romeo and Juliet, this scene is referred to as 'Liebestod' - sticking together the German words 'liebe' and 'tod' meaning 'love' and 'death' - which basically means that the love is proven in, or after, death. Pretty tragic stuff really.

The melody grows out of complete silence; and there is something so soft and spiritual about this effect, as not only the dynamics grow, but the texture of instrumentation does too. When I hear it I can almost see Tristan's spirit leaving him, in front of Isolde's very eyes. What starts off as Isolde's personal, soft anguish, turns into externalised despair as the orchestration gets thicker, and the vocal line more desperate, as she tries to plead with herself, imagining Tristan reviving - asking 'do you not see?', 'how his eyes fondly open'.

The great thing about Jessye Norman's voice, is that it's simply huge. Even in the highly dramatic phrases in this aria, I never find myself thinking 'oh wow, she's completely spent now', instead; I always believe she's got some back up reserve of uber-power. This seems to work really well with this, as the orchestra creates what seems almost like a resistance, keeping the vocalist back slightly - which is, I suppose, the musical representation of how Isolde is constantly hitting the barrier of reality, preventing her imagination, and her voice, from soaring and bringing her beloved Tristan back to life.

Well...after that success, might even try seeing the whole thing! This will be a truly monumental occasion - perhaps this can be Musical fear No. 3 to overcome; greek myth and children down, Wagner to go!